Costumes
by BlueSaber
Summary: [HanLeia] A short Halloween fic featuring Star Wars' original couple, a tipsy Luke, a pumpkin, and disguises of all kinds.


Hello there and Happy Halloween! Thank you for clicking. This is a short Halloween fic I wrote just recently for a message board challenge. The story had the following requirements:

-Appearance of blue Force ghost  
- Appearance of a pumpkin  
- Someone must be wearing a costume (you choose what type)  
- Someone says, "Trick or treat!"  
- Bonus points if you can get a reference to "spirits", as in the ghosts, and "spirits", as in alcohol  
-Bonus bonus points if you can make this reference to "spirits" involve Luke getting tipsy

This response is my first Han and Leia fic as well, so if you review please let me know how I handled them and their budding romance. This takes place intertrilogy, or in-between _A New Hope_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: _Star Wars_ and all of its merchandise is George Lucas'. Lucky bugger.

* * *

It never failed to amaze her how much the Alliance could party.

"Hey Princess! I didn't know you had a twin!"

Leia frowned and turned to berate the smuggler she had come to know well over the past few months after her rescue from the Death Star, well prepared to give him an intense tongue lashing.

She paused in shock however, as she saw who was with Han and how he was dressed.

"What is the meaning of this?" She hissed.

"Uh…hi Leia," Luke, the hero and poster boy of the Rebel Alliance gave her one of his famous farmboy smiles. He then hiccupped, giving away his obvious tipsiness, though he tried to look dignified and sober.

But she wasn't falling for it, not when she could see Han Solo trying to hide a grin.

"Aw, lighten up your Worship," Han laughed as he thumped the bewildered Luke on the back. "The kid's just not all that good with gambling, and seeing as this is a Hallen'een celebration, the Rogues and I thought this would be perfect."

Leia buried her face in her hands.

"It was really hard to do your hair right," Luke confided in her seriously, and Leia peered out at him from between her fingers, staring at one of her best friends, now dressed ridiculously in a white gown very similar to the one she'd donned on the Death Star. He had on a wig that also bore a resemblance to one of the most popular Alderaanian hairstyles of the day. Her two-sided bun hairstyle.

Leia groaned.

Luke hiccupped suddenly and Leia turned with righteous indignation on Han, the sure source of this all.

"You did this to him!" She snapped as Luke grinned dazedly at the fellow Alliance members who were now gawking as they filed past the famous trio.

"Don't try to pin this on me Your Worship!" Han protested, trying very hard to pull an indignant look on his face. "I've never seen someone so ready to guzzle down some whiskey and bet everything away."

"But you dressed him up like this! Like me! To make fun of me!" She was furious, ready to strangle this cocky smuggler to death for his insolence.

"I hear Ben," Luke said suddenly, pulling on a slightly serious face through his obvious inebriation.

Both Leia and Han turned incredulously toward him, one worried, the other smirking.

"So the spirits come to visit you eh, kid, in more way than one?" Han cracked. Leia gnashed her teeth at the awful pun.

Luke only nodded sagely, pushing away from Han, who had been holding him up until now. "He has a very important message."

"Well," Leia sighed, hoping some good would come out of this Hallen'een celebration. "What does he say Luke?"

Luke's face cracked into a huge smile. "Trick or treat!"

And he promptly crashed to the floor.

Around them, several people laughed hysterically. The music at the celebration increased and people cheered, toasting their glasses to the hero Skywalker, as a fuming Princess and sheepish smuggler carefully dragged him back to his quarters.

As they deposited Luke, who was now snoring loudly, in his bed, Leia took the opportunity to snatch the "Leia hair" wig off of Luke, intending to burn it at the first opportunity.

"Hey Princess, we didn't mean nothing by it…"

She walked out of Luke's quarters and noted with satisfaction that Han had to scurry to make it out of the way before the door slammed into him. Luke's muffled snores filtered through the hallway as Leia turned to face Han.

And blinked as she realized that he was holding an orange shaped vegetable out towards her, a plea for forgiveness on his face.

"You know I woulda taken care of the kid Princess," Han smiled, a little hopefully. "You want a punkin? They're really interesting Hallen'een presents. I hear their seeds are good toasted."

Leia stared in amazement, wondering how this man could possibly set her on fire and then cool her off so quickly.

"Very well then," she pulled on her best diplomatic face and took the small orange vegetable. "But you have to promise me that you'll never dress Luke in drag again."

Han blinked. "All right," he agreed reluctantly.

She frowned then and backed up, squinting her eyes at him. "What are you supposed to be anyway?"

He raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Leia shook her head. "Never mind. Don't tell me. I don't want to know."

Han grinned. "Afraid of the answer Princess?"

"Deathly afraid," she deadpanned.

"And what are you honey?" He took in her strange ensemble with a properly inquiring look on his face.

It was her turn to smirk at him. "I'll give you a hint," she said. "I will not condone a course of action that will lead my people to war."

Silence, punctuated only by Luke's snoring, filled the hallway.

Leia floundered, suddenly realizing that her rather obscure disguise would probably go straight over the head of the smuggler. Or most people in the Alliance for that matter.

"I'm Queen Amidala of the Naboo," she explained hurriedly. "A very strong-willed woman who led her people in a war against—"

She faltered as Han continued to stare at her blankly.

"Oh never mind," mumbled Leia, haughtily lifting her massive headpiece up, and turning to slip away with her punkin.

Only to be stopped by Han's laughter.

"Ah come on your highnessness, you dressed up as a queen? Thought you were supposed to have fun on Hallen'een, dressing up as something different." He gave her his wry grin.

She opened her mouth to retort and instead, taking in all the absurdities of the night so far, burst out laughing. Together, the princess and smuggler laughed and Leia, for the first time in a long time, relaxed.

"I guess I could have dressed up as you, but then where would that leave us?" she teased.

Han, to her surprise, looked at her in a way that often caused her thoughts to jumble peculiarly, and shook his head.

"You need to be yourself Leia, even on Hallen'een," he smiled in a way that made her heart jump.

She stammered out something unintelligible and Han took a tentative step toward her, his strange costume in the way of him reaching her.

For a moment, there was nothing in the hallway but two people sharing a gaze full of desire and longing, barely hidden and only thinly disguised.

"Oh Mistress Leia I am so glad that I found you!"

Leia grated her teeth as the spell was broken and she turned to face Threepio. Han, giving the droid an annoyed look, excused himself and headed back to the party. Something inside of Leia clenched, but she steeled herself for whatever the droid had to say.

"Yes Threepio?"

And she became as regal as the costume she wore, pushing all thoughts of relaxation out of her mind, taking up the mantle of duty again. She followed the golden droid as he led her to the headquarters, where apparently strange transmissions were coming in, taking off her carefully applied make-up and costume along the way.

It was only a moment, but for that one moment, Leia wished that she could be like Luke, and toss off the costume she wore.

The moment passed and Leia moved on, unaware of the smuggler in the shadows, whose eyes followed her every move and planned ahead for much more.


End file.
